Hmmm. Pre- 82 castings? My boat is an 88 that is in great condition (or was repaired very well) wouldn't have guessed it to have older castings on it.

I has the Harken 6:1 Main Blocks, so that shouldn't limit my sheeting ability. Maybe I should start a thread "Here's What I have, what would you do" and show some pics of the setup that I have in terms of hardware, sheets, etc. Would be interesting to get opinions as to priority of future upgrades, and which ones would be more worthwhile.

That could give me a project sheet to show the wife ( I can see it now)

I really do appreciate the input. These forums are awesome, and really steepen the learning curve for those of us who have the interest/ passion, but not the time or location to be at a nice sailing club or fleet every weekend. I would say i have developed in 1 year, the knowledge that would've taken many years to develop by trial and error.

Ok, I am getting confused, I keep seeing "Rake The Mast Back, More speed", "Go Block To Block"................. If mast is raked forward I do not see how you are going to go "Block to Block".

It's a delicate balance of power and pointing ability - which makes setting up the Hobie 16 for racing so challenging.

You want the mast raked far enough back so that you can go block-to-block in most conditions (except for very light air / lumpy water) - while having the proper leech tension for the conditions. In light air, you want a more open leech, so that the sail doesn't stall. In medium air (up to about 12 kts), you want the leech to be tight, then as the wind increases, to have it open up to spill power from the top of the sail.

This is all done with the jib halyard and very small changes in halyard tension can have a big impact on performance.

And then adding or releasing downhaul also changes the rig tension by bending the mast, adding another element of challenge (read fun) to getting it just right...

I also think whether your weight is on the trap wires or not also has some effect..

What I have seen from most new 16 sailors, not only including, but especially myself is that the downhaul and the Jib halyard tension simple get set on the beach based on what the book says, or what they heard from some 'fast' skipper, and then they go play all day only playing the travelers and the jib and main sheets... Once you have a basic feel for the boat and how it is responding playing with those controls (jib halyard and down haul) generally make pretty obvious changes.

IMO one of the best things I have done is spring for the Hobie 6:1 down haul setup with the cam cleat, and then the Aussie jib halyard setup with a couple extra blocks at the bottom of the mast turning it back into a cam cleat before cleating it off... Both of these make it REALLY easy to make small changes quickly and feel how the boat responds. I can't and won't tell you I have mastered it, but it sure makes things easier to learn..

You don't need the fancy hardware though... So don't be afraid to play with those lines... It is pretty easy to adjust jib halyard tension running downwind no matter what setup you have...

Oh... and on my boat.. I have a piece of electrical tape wrapped around the jib halyard... and a Tape measure stuck on the mast.. I try to not get to caught up in in exactly setting it "to a number" but instead it allows new crew and often me to have a guide to know where I started and where I moved to on any given day.